Paul Tisdale says he could have no qualms with the referee’s decision to abandon Exeter City’s Boxing Day game with Forest Green Rovers.

The game was goalless after a first half of persistent rain that saw conditions at St James Park grow worse and worse before Brett Huxtable called a halt to proceedings at half-time.

The referee then brought Tisdale and Mark Cooper out onto the pitch to officially abandon the game and, whilst the City boss joked he could have done without going back outside, he had no issues with the decision.

Tisdale said: “He’s got to make his decision and he made it – it’s hard to argue with him, really, looking at the floodlights reflecting off the water, it’s a very wet St James Park.

“The referee made his choice, I think he was primed for it before the game started, I think he was ready for it having seen the forecast but as a team you’ve just got to get on with it and wait for the referee.

“I don’t quite know why he brought Mark Cooper and myself out onto the pitch to shake our hands and then walk back in, I could have done with staying inside, but I think he was trying to make Mark and I complicit in the decision.

“Other than that, I’ve got no qualms at all with what the referee did.”

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The City boss was impressed with how his side handled the conditions and thought they were well set for the second half.

He said: “It was a highly unusual sort of game, with the surface as it was, but I thought the players did really well.

“We created some really good chances and they came in and were ready for the second half – they were busy putting on their dry kit, we have a dry set of kit for these sorts of circumstances, so they were busy getting changed and I said you don’t go into coaching to talk about page 467 but today it’s 467.

“The ball’s got to be in their half more than ours, don’t fall over, and stick it in the mixer – that was what today was about, we just didn’t get a chance to come out and play the second half.

“We’ll have to do it again and play Forest Green for the fifth time this year.”

Tisdale made five changes from the side that lost to Yeovil Town three days previous, with Kane Wilson, Danny Seaborne, Dean Moxey, Jordan Tillson and Lee Holmes replacing Pierce Sweeney, Troy Archibald-Henville, Craig Woodman and Liam McAlinden.

These two sides had already met twice in the FA Cup this month and Forest Green’s line up had a familiar look to it, with hitman Christian Doidge leading the line up front.

Chances were at a premium in the first half, with conditions meaning both sides playing it safe rather than risk making errors in the rain.

The Grecians twice had the ball in the net in the first 10 minutes, with Jayden Stockley turning in a rebound after keeper Bradley Collins had saved Jake Taylor’s shot, with play being called back for offside, and then the Forest Green stopper then let a Hiram Boateng shot slip under his foot and into the net after the City midfielder had handballed. With both incidents coming a while after the referee had blown his whistle, it was difficult to claim any controversy in the decisions.

City saw a lot of the ball in the first half and had moments where they pinned the visitors back, with Holmes forcing a good save out of Bradley Collins following a brilliant turn past Emmanuelle Monthe.

Boateng then had an effort deflect wide of goal from the edge of the box but the writing was on the wall at this point.

Referee Brett Huxtable took the ball to a sodden area of the pitch on 40 minutes, with both captains running over to kick standing water off the pitch to assuage his fears.

Yet, after the two teams went in goalless at the break, the referee continued to carry out pitch inspections and, with the rain continuing to fall, called a halt to proceedings.